Komnetsamoi (British Raiders)
''The Komnetsamoi light cavalry is excellent for harassing the enemy. Their speed and range enables them to spread havoc on the battlefield and, once the enemy begins to rout, they are ideal for running him down. '' Description Long before the great horde of the Pritanoi army arrives in a foreign land, it makes itself known through the Komnetsamoi. These horsemen, atop nimble ponies, fan out across the land like evil spectres, carrying with them a message devoid of hope, a message of the impending doom with awaits any community into which they ride. They appear at dawn, dark forms upon the crest of the horizon, as if the setting of the moon had released a curse upon the land. These are rugged men of great endurance and speed. Into the fields and settlements they ride causing havoc and terror. Should their victims attempt to defend themselves they are showered with javelins if not run down all together. It is these skills which make them so feared on the battlefield as they roam like maddened dogs, picking off the weakest of their enemies and riding down those who try to run. Historically the Iron Age Britons approach to horses and cavalry was a perplexing one. Horses appear to have been held in very high regards among various Iron Age British societies, as evidenced by the fact they were the only animal to be regularly depicted in artwork, especially on coinage but also on bronze ornaments. Likewise the Britons produced beautiful horse riding equipment such as snaffle bits and unique pieces such as the Torr's Pony Cap from modern day Scotland. We are also informed by Caesar that the Briton's were masterful riders, capable of performing impressive acts of gymnastics when driving their chariots. At the same time, however, the Britons seem to have made no effort to improve their horses through selective breeding yet, based on isotopic analysis of bones, they traded horses over long distances. This lack of selective breeding meant that British horses, or ponies as they should be termed, were usually no more than 10-13 hands in height. In fact it does not appear that the Britons actually bred horses. A lack of juvenile horse remains at several sites has been interpreted as evidence that the Iron Age Britons instead captured wild ponies and then broke them in to serve as mounts. Possibly due to this form of procuring horses, coupled with their status as a symbol of elite or ritual power, horses were not a common feature on British Iron Age sites, usually only making up around 10% of the total skeletal remains of domesticates recovered in excavations (although there are exceptions at some Late Iron Age sites in southern Britain where they made up a much larger percentage). Usage These light cavalry are best used for peppering their enemies with their javelins and chasing and engaging weak ranged units and routers due to their fast speed. They can also be used as flanking cavalry but they will not last long in melee against well-armored units. Category:Units Category:Units available only in EB2 Category:Aedui Category:Arverni Category:Pritanoi